STAR WARS REBELS Recap: Hondo Returns in “The Wynkahthu Job”

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Warning: This recap contains spoilers for the Star Wars Rebels episode “The Wynkahthu Job.” Jump into hyperspace and away from this page if you haven’t watched the episode yet.

I can’t help but look forward to Star Wars Rebels more than usual when I know Hondo Ohnaka is going to be in an episode. Jim Cummings is a powerhouse, and Hondo always brings an extra helping of humor to the table. He was in top form in “The Wynkahthu Job,” especially when it came to unintentional cracks about Kanan’s loss of sight. “Don’t be blind to this business opportunity,” Hondo quipped before apologizing. I don’t know if I should have laughed, but I did.

Hondo came back into the picture because he needed help with a job, and it just so happened some of the loot scored on said job would be beneficial to the Rebellion: proton bombs. Though I’m a tad frustrated to go into another episode without Thrawn or Maul, this diversion fit in with the overall theme of the season so far: the Rebels are desperate and they’re rallying.

We’ve watched the Ghost crew recruit basically anyone they can get their hands on: young Imperial defectors, Mandalorians, the kids of the Iron Squadron–you get the idea. They’re also amassing as many supplies and weapons as possible. This is what I’d call the less glamorous but exceedingly important part of building the organization. We’re getting a firsthand look at how the Rebels are pulling together a little of this and a little of that to come up with their own ragtag fleets and squadrons. It’s no wonder a large part of the Empire dismisses the Rebellion. They wouldn’t see the Rebels’ imprecise methods as a threat.

All that is to say I can see how episodes like “The Wynkahthu Job” and last week’s “Iron Squadron” are fitting into the bigger arc.

Now, the job. Hondo found an Imperial ship trapped in an atmospheric storm above the planet Wynkahthu; its cargo included precious metal and artifacts along with the proton bombs. You can guess what Hondo’s interested in. Because Hondo’s involved, there were catches. First of all, he was working with Azmorigan (remember how Hera introduced the character to a tray in season one?), and second of all, Hondo had already been on the ship and left one of his crew, Melch, there to die. The Ugnaught was less than pleased with Hondo.

AP-5 came up with a plan to salvage the ship, and geez, it’s about time we see the droid again. He’s been mentioned, but he hasn’t appeared since the end of season two and it’s a shame. His dry humor is a delight. Anyway, AP-5 worked out logistics and Zeb took charge of the mission–something Ezra got bratty about. I know he’s a teen. I know he’s going through a lot. I can recognize those things and still be annoyed by him, though. Yikes.

Once aboard the Imperial ship, the plan didn’t unfold seamlessly. It rarely does. Hondo came clean about what happened. He had brought his crew to the ship earlier, but Imperials attacked and disabled the ship with ion mines. That’s how it drifted into the atmospheric storm and lost all power. Oops. But Chopper took care of the power problem, and the team found the cargo bay and started offloading.

Zeb, of course, prioritized getting the proton bombs off the ship first. They used a pulley system of sorts to get the material over to the Ghost. The whole sequence emphasized Hera’s skills under pressure. Relatedly, the crew did especially nuanced and fantastic work on Hera’s expressions in this episode. The look on her face when she saw Azmorigan was priceless. Anyway, the operation seemed to be moving along with ease until the Imperial ship lost its stabilizers and started to fall towards the planet.

The loss of stabilizers wasn’t the only problem Zeb, Ezra, Hondo, and the others faced: they encountered a sentry droid. AP-5 forgot to account for the droids in his planning, and then forgot to immediately tell the Rebels not to engage them. Before he could communicate his cautionary words, Azmorigan lost his noodle and took Ezra’s weapon in order to shoot the droid. I don’t know if he could be a more obnoxious character. His unnecessary action made the other sentry droids on the ship activate and put them all in more serious danger.

They scrambled back to the cargo hold ahead of the sentry droids. Hondo didn’t want to leave without the treasure, so he managed to get one crate across in the nick of time. In fact, the whole team made it back to the Ghost in the nick of time. The cables in the pulley system snapped and Zeb and Ezra almost fell to their deaths. The animation in these scenes is dynamic, but my favorite part was Chopper using his jetpack to fly off while telling Ezra, “It’s every man for himself.”

The Rebels won the day because they ended up with a stash of proton bombs. I was convinced something was going to happen to their newly acquired weapons to render them useless, but they actually scored a small victory for once. Hondo, however, wasn’t so lucky. His “treasure” was Melch in a box; the Ugnaught wanted to ensure he wouldn’t be left behind again.

Controversial question for you: do you think Hondo is being overused in Rebels? Or is Hondo one of those characters you can’t get enough of seeing? Sound off in the comments.